There has never been a “politician” who was so willing to advertise their total lack of intelligence or education about world affairs as Sarah Palin during the 2008 campaign. From not being able to name a newspaper that she supposedly reads to indicating we should stand with our North Korean allies it was incontrovertible that Sarah was clueless. Her way of dealing with the utter humilitation of interviews with the press, was to attack the media. When she attacked the media, she heard thunderous applause. It was clear that her “base” knew no more than she did. Her “base” was offended that the media would ask her questions to which they also didn’t know the answer. Rather than feeling ignorant too, they simply preferred to view the questions as unfair and the reporters to be biased. Sarah Palin may not have given birth to Trigg but she did give birth to the age of proudly promoting stupidity in our elected officials.

As the campaign went on, it became increasing clear that Palin operated in a different way than John McCain. When a McCain supporter said “I don’t trust Obama. I have read about him and he’s an Arab,” McCain responded,

“No ma’am, no ma’am … He’s [a] citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues.”

When one man said he was scared of Obama, McCain replied that

“[Obama] is a decent person, and a person that you do not have to be scared [of] as president of the United States.” The crowd booed. McCain also said, “I admire Senator Obama and his accomplishments. I will respect him and I want everyone to be respectful, and let’s make sure we are.”

Palin took the opposite tack: She stoked her supporters’ fears—and won their cheers. At her rallies, Palin said, “I am just so fearful that this is not a man who sees America the way that you and I see America.” At one, a man shouted “Treason” and Palin said nothing. At another, Palin’s anti-Obama diatribe led a man to yell out, “Kill him!” Palin did not push back against her often-angry crowds. In the strongest echo of today’s Trump rallies, she used her speeches to go after the free press (or the “lamestream media”), reserving particular scorn for elite publications. Palin’s supporters then started verbally attacking her traveling press corps, including hurling a racial epithet at an African American journalist. Palin not only refused to lower the temperature, she basked in its heat.

Palin also displayed contempt for experts and elites. The then-governor didn’t study policy journals or even follow national news. She resisted when McCain aides tried to get her to focus on preparing for our interviews. But she thrilled her supporters with attacks on coastal liberals and support for “normal Joe Six Pack Americans.” Among some conservatives, a disdain for the liberal intelligentsia morphed into a disdain for the highly educated or for facts that contradicted their worldview. That has led to the current environment, where no matter what evidence the experts have brought to bear—against Brexit, against Trump’s trade and tax policies—it doesn’t matter to many voters. These elites, and the arguments they make, are dismissed out of hand.

Sarah Palin gave rise to an era of politicians who gave themselves permission to lie or be so ignorant that the only way to answer a question was to attack the person asking the question. Palin may have stumbled over some issues, but she understood that image and personality now mattered more than policy mastery. She was all about the base before that strategy became conventional wisdom. She saw the political power in attacking elites.

It was also Sarah Palin who allowed women to be disrespected and the victims of sexual assault. Remember when it became known that during Palin’s time as the Mayor of Wasilla that she protected rapists by requiring the victims of assault to pay for their rape exam kits. Living in the rape capital of America, it was clear that Palin was either protecting rapists, or protecting the perpetrators. The rapists, not the victims, were funneling money to her campaign and to her husband, so her allegiance was clear.

The fact that Donald Trump bragged before the election that women “let him” grab them by the pussy, was clearly inconsequential when compared to working as a pimp. Questioning the Presidence’s place of birth was insignificant compared to calling him “Sambo.” However when Trump mocked a disabled reporter, that should have been so offensive to Sarah Palin that she’d never associate herself with Trump.

However Sarah’s true feelings for the handicapped were clear. Many of us recognized her use of a Down’s Syndrome Child for political gain as she paraded him across the stage at the RNC.

Since that moment she has never attended a charitable event for the handicapped unless she was getting paid for her appearance. She never enrolled Trigg in the Special Olympics and certainly never devoted herself to maximizing his potential. Who knows what kind of jokes she has told Trump about handicapped people?

Two thoughts on this, first, throughout the Kavanaugh battle right-to-lifers fought for his nomination. Despite the fact that while Kavanaugh was on the D.C. Circuit Court he ruled that women with disabilities could be forced to have abortions against their wishes. Wonder what Sarah the phony thinks of that? Oh, right. She doesn’t think.

And another republican medical expert, Ann Romney said she was grateful to have been given the gift of M.S., that she HAD it but hasn’t anymore. I could slap her silly.

Just a heads up Malia, Sid Miller is promoting Sarah Palin running for the Senate on his page to get rid of Lisa murkowski. You should read the comments. It’s disgusting. I can’t believe people are still that stupid, but they are.